B-King - An Odd bike's Journey

[RhadamYgg]

Got to ride in to work today! yay. Hope to ride in to work tomorrow. Still very cold in the morning - need to add a little more clothing in the morning, on the way home, the liners are too hot.

But I don't feel like putting my tail bag on the bike because it is a PITA.

[jstark47]

But I don't feel like putting my tail bag on the bike because it is a PITA.

What kind of tail bag are you using?

According to Twisted Throttle, the same tail bag from Bags Connection that I use on my Bonneville fits your bike. It is easy to put on and off.

[RhadamYgg]

What kind of tail bag are you using?

According to Twisted Throttle, the same tail bag from Bags Connection that I use on my Bonneville fits your bike. It is easy to put on and off.

I have the same red cortech tail bag I used on my Ninja 250 oddly enough. It really is just a matter of taking it down from the sauna and attaching four bungee hooks. What I want is something set up like a sport tourer ST1300. Sadly, I strongly suspect there only a few hundred B-Kings in the USA and only one company (in Europe) builds a very ugly metal base for tail bags. I think the Givi web site laughed at me when I searched for B-King...

Since I took most of the plastic off my bike I see potential for something custom. But alas, it seems my disposable income (with the above twins) has become quite small and anything fully custom costs money.

RhadamYgg

[HYPERR]

What kind of tail bag are you using?

According to Twisted Throttle, the same tail bag from Bags Connection that I use on my Bonneville fits your bike. It is easy to put on and off.

I have the same red cortech tail bag I used on my Ninja 250 oddly enough. It really is just a matter of taking it down from the sauna and attaching four bungee hooks. What I want is something set up like a sport tourer ST1300. Sadly, I strongly suspect there only a few hundred B-Kings in the USA and only one company (in Europe) builds a very ugly metal base for tail bags. I think the Givi web site laughed at me when I searched for B-King...

Since I took most of the plastic off my bike I see potential for something custom. But alas, it seems my disposable income (with the above twins) has become quite small and anything fully custom costs money.

RhadamYgg

The funny thing is, I have a tail bag($100?) for the CBR and the BMW hard bags($700?) for my R1150R. However, the vast majority of the time, I leave them off and I end up using my backpack 98.5% of the time. I really like my $19.99 backpack.

[RhadamYgg]

So, a very good week for riding. I rode in to work three times in one week, which doesn't happen often what with rain and stuff like that. Next week doesn't nearly look as good, but I'll take 375 miles riding and saving $15 a day in commute costs a day anytime. I do wish my B-King took regular instead of premium fuel or the savings would be much more. My last three fill ups (with my very conservative riding style) were 38 mpg, 46 mpg and 42 mpg vs my car with gets (very consistently) 26 mpg.

Of course, most of the savings comes from taking a different route that costs less in tolls. Its longer (62 miles instead of 42), but I don't have to take the Henry Hudson bridge (3$ each way) and the Tap is much cheaper than the GWB.

The unfortunate thing about riding the B-King 126 or so miles a day is that I have to get gas, every day. At least the gas station attendants don't look twice at me. I know some people love full service stations, but I hate it.

I actually had interaction with another biker. When I was on the home area leg of my ride he asked me if there was a gas station near by. I tried to give directions (very difficult to communicate at a stop light) which unfortunately were communicated wrong - but the wrongly communicated directions oddly enough led them to a gas station so, that all worked out.

Not very many close calls (that I'm AWARE of) during these past 375 miles. I don't look in my mirrors enough and I suspect that once or twice people have tried to eat my alive from behind in stop'n'go traffic. Maybe ignorance (and poorly set up mirrors) is bliss, because in stop'n'go traffic there is very little I can do about the "O Ring" behind me.

I do think that a cautionary light on the back of the bike when I let off the throttle and slow down would be useful. Letting off the throttle to slow down is comparable to some cars light braking, but gives no signal to the cars that you are slowing down. I try to put a little pressure on the rear break when using engine braking, but I know I don't do it every time and quite often even a little pressure on the back brake gives more braking that I really want - especially on the highway.

A gyroscope that has some simple software that turns on the brake lights when the bike is engine braking (or anytime, actually) would be a great thing to have. Might save a few lives and prevent a few accidents in my opinion. Gyroscopes are becoming standard equipment on some bikes BMW S1000R (with traction control) - so who knows, this might be possible sometime.

RhadamYgg
RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

The funny thing is, I have a tail bag($100?) for the CBR and the BMW hard bags($700?) for my R1150R. However, the vast majority of the time, I leave them off and I end up using my backpack 98.5% of the time. I really like my $19.99 backpack.

I've ridden with backpacks before. It was great, actually, and maybe I'll go back to that. The problem was that I was rather hard on it and the strap ripped on me after a couple of rides. Backpack wasn't new - though - something I had used for years and had wear and tear on it already.

With a cheapie backpack I can decorate the crap out of it with retroreflective stickers and crap and wear an actual black leather jacket.

Something to think about, anyway.

RhadamYgg

[Wrider]

I vote you just attach flares. Cops use them so they've gotta be somewhat effective. Who wouldn't notice a bike rolling down the road with flares attached to the rider?

[RhadamYgg]

Hmmm flares. You know there is a practical problem with having them last long enough. I could call a fireworks company and see if they custom make extended use flares. I do suspect there might be a small problem with cost. But hey, if I get hit while riding with flares it can only be target fixation!

[RhadamYgg]

You know, I was all excited when I got a hit on my searches for motorcycle lean angle devices... http://www.speedangle.com/productsDetail.php?id=20

But it isn't available yet and it has no price! The thing of it is - it would record my lean angle so I wouldn't have to look at the damned thing while riding, I could review the data later and determine if I'm leaning any further than my last ride.

RhadamYgg

[noodlenoggin]

I got a cheap ($50) tailpack way back in the 90's when I got my bike -- same thing, 4 bungee hooks -- and I loved the thing. In fact, I used it as carry-on luggage, overnight bag, schoolbag, everything because it was a perfectly packable cube shape. After only 10 years or so, though, all the seams have opened up and it's more of a sieve than a bag.

Good lookin' twins there, and I feel for you on the disposable income. This year looks like it'll be the first year I'll actually get the bike on the road since our twins were born in 2006.